Switch vs Wii Sales Comparison in the US - April 2022 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 June 2022 / 6,521 Views
The VGChartz sales comparison series of articles are updated monthly and each one focuses on a different sales comparison using our estimated video game hardware figures. The charts include comparisons between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as with older platforms. There are articles based on our worldwide estimates, as well as the US, Europe, and Japan.
This monthly series compares the aligned US sales of the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Wii.
The Wii launched in November 2006, while the Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017. Therefore, the holiday periods for the two consoles do not lineup, which is why there are big increases and decreases.
Switch Vs. Wii US:
Gap change in latest month: 776,245 - Wii
Gap change over last 12 months: 2,162,339 - Switch
Total Lead: 3,048,735 - Wii
Switch Total Sales: 35,563,374
Wii Total Sales: 38,612,109
April 2022 is the 62nd month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for in the US. During the latest month, the Wii has grown its lead over the Switch when you align the launches by 776,245 units.
In the last 12 months, the Switch has outsold the Wii by 2.16 million units. The Wii is currently ahead of the Switch by 3.05 million units.
The 62nd month for the Nintendo Switch is April 2022 and for the Wii it is December 2011. The Switch has sold 35.56 million units, while the Wii sold 38.61 million units during the same timeframe. The Wii sold current Switch sales in month 57.
The Wii sold 41.70 million units in the US during its lifetime. The Switch needs to sell another 6.14 million units to outsell the Wii.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Only a matter of time
Look at total console sales 7th gen versus current gen:
In the 7th gen if you released a game you had 500 million home consoles and portable devices.
In our current gen there are only 150 million devices sold in total.
If you do a mixed gen, like PS4 + Switch + Xbox One, you get only 275 million.
That is how huge 7th gen gaming was. The Wii + DS + PSP + PS3 + Xbox 360 era was double in sales compared to the current gen. Switch level sales for every company. That's how popular consoles were at that time. Twice as popular as now.
That is why Nintendo had to put their home and portable devices together in to one product. Lower popularity. That is why Sony is releasing on PC. That is why Microsoft has left the building with a new strategy including Windows and streaming and subscriptions.
You can't say the Switch has a long tail and that's why it will be regarded the winner though, if that's what you mean and I understand you correctly. The Switch is still selling millions in the US every year and most likely will continue to do so before the next console releases. It will outsell Wii in the long run and do so by a good few million, definitely not just a long tail. If anything, the Wii burned out too quickly towards the end of its life.
The X360 outsold the PS3 by 15mil units in the US. Nobody even remotely reasonable would argue that the PS3 won anything in the US.
The past two years the Switch has been selling more launch aligned than the Wii, that's why it has been catching up, and the year before that the Wii only outsold the Switch by a very small amount. The gap chart makes that clear. The Switch has not been selling less than the Wii for 5 years, it just had a slower start.
